From the Drought Monitor explanation page: " Indices used primarily during the snow season and in the West include snow water content, river basin precipitation, and the Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI)."

Uh no. North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa barely got any snow this year. My IA friends were mowing their lawns in February in 50 degree weather. My father in law is in Fargo and got very little snow and it didn't stick around.

So we've picked two specific years. 1934 (conveniently) and this year. Not saying any specific theory is true or untrue... but I think it would be fair to see a progression from as far back as we can get to the beginning of the industrial revolution through today.

But this summer has been hell on crops. They are talking about "Dust Bowl" levels of crops ruined. They've already started mowing down corn in Missouri and Illinois. Even in Indiana, corn was going gangbusters....knee high by the 4th of July and then some. Then went to seed with tassles popping out...at 3 feet tall. Pretty much a ruined crop.

So...ethanol and corn prices will be skyrocketing. Hell, even wheat is being affected. Beans too.

And for some anecdotal weather...locally it hadn't hit 100 but one day maybe in the last 5 years. This year it's been over 100 at least 10 days. And rain is way below normal. Record levels below normal.

"The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen."

Jake Havechek:"The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen."

Well, there's Bobby Taylor sittin' there and seven times he's asked me for a dateMrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lot of ice whenever he's awayAnd Mr. Baker, can you tell us why your secretary had to leave this town?And shouldn't widow Jones be told to keep her window shades all pulled completely down?

Well, Mr. Harper couldn't be here 'cause he stayed too long at Kelly's Bar againAnd if you smell Shirley Thompson's breath, you'll find she's had a little nip of ginThen you have the nerve to tell me you think that as a mother I'm not fitWell, this is just a little Peyton Place and you're all Harper Valley hypocrites

So we've picked two specific years. 1934 (conveniently) and this year. Not saying any specific theory is true or untrue... but I think it would be fair to see a progression from as far back as we can get to the beginning of the industrial revolution through today.

Well, deny it or not, the climate has been a bit wonky for the last 20 years. Whether we had anything to do with or can do anything about is academic by this point, because we're going to have to deal with it.

So we've picked two specific years. 1934 (conveniently) and this year. Not saying any specific theory is true or untrue... but I think it would be fair to see a progression from as far back as we can get to the beginning of the industrial revolution through today.

The new index has an animation thingy on it's page, but it only goes back 12 years. NOAA's drought index goes back to 1900

Jake Havechek:"The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen."

Their gods are failing. And so they use this to prove their gods are succeeding. Sounds .... par for the course.

Jake Havechek:Well, deny it or not, the climate has been a bit wonky for the last 20 years. Whether we had anything to do with or can do anything about is academic by this point, because we're going to have to deal with it.

WONKY is a technical term for normal.You are aware that a "stable" climate is abnormal? That the last 2000 years have been freakishly stable as the climate goes?

You are aware that the word climate is used for long periods of time and weather is used for short periods of time? That few or no scientists use the word climate when talking about 10-20 years??

Has the climate actually changed? Maybe. (Whether we are responsible is a different, less interesting question. Unless you really think we can control the climate.)Was it ever rational to assume that the climate would never change? no

So we've picked two specific years. 1934 (conveniently) and this year. Not saying any specific theory is true or untrue... but I think it would be fair to see a progression from as far back as we can get to the beginning of the industrial revolution through today.

The new index has an animation thingy on it's page, but it only goes back 12 years. NOAA's drought index goes back to 1900

Cool thanks. Pretty much as I expected: random.

MUCH WORSE THAN RANDOM!!!Sometimes it is TOO WET!!!!ROFL

The idea that one extreme or the other is a new phenomenon is so funny.

namatad:Jake Havechek: Well, deny it or not, the climate has been a bit wonky for the last 20 years. Whether we had anything to do with or can do anything about is academic by this point, because we're going to have to deal with it.

WONKY is a technical term for normal.You are aware that a "stable" climate is abnormal? That the last 2000 years have been freakishly stable as the climate goes?

You are aware that the word climate is used for long periods of time and weather is used for short periods of time? That few or no scientists use the word climate when talking about 10-20 years??

Has the climate actually changed? Maybe. (Whether we are responsible is a different, less interesting question. Unless you really think we can control the climate.)Was it ever rational to assume that the climate would never change? no

Jake Havechek:However, I put odds on the Yellowstone caldera erupting, an asteroid or comet fragment impact, or the human race nuking themselves before climate change becomes any kind of real issue.

Strangely enough, the first 3 are the only real threats to wiping out the species. Nuclear war? meh. global warming? double meh.

Funny how this is a problem NOW that the cold war is over. These are the same people who have been predicting that we will run out of oil since 1910 and run out of food and that we will have fusion power plants within 20 years.

It is strange to watch their extremes: over optimistic about some things (recycling will save the unverse!! green energy! hydrogen economy!!!) and over pessimistic about other things (population bomb!!!)

They all have the same underlying aspect: the predictors will be dead before they are proven wrong.

Well....not really. The U.S. and former Soviet State's missile bases never really stood down, and only obsolete weapons have been replaced. There still are guys sitting in bunkers out in Kansas cornfields with their launch keys pulled outside of their blouses, while they read paperbacks and do endless tests and whatnot. Brian, the dorky guy who used to be on Ghosthunters was a missile tech in the USAF, and used to go and repair missile systems onsite as less as ten years ago.

DesertDemonWY:what we should really be worried about is Global Norming

LOLnot sure we should worry about anything.Should we have implement conservation to save species? yes. but only from a aesthetic point of view. Whales, eagles and polar bears are cool. But, if they go extinct, NOT will happen from an ecological point of view. Those niches have already been filled. Plus species come and go all the time.

Should we have worried about air and water pollution? hell yes. And to some degree the EPA has solved that problem. (dont get me started on the cheney loophole)

Should we panic about running out of water, food, energy, wood, animals, climate change, resources and all the other crap? hell no. We will continue to do what we have always done. Adapt.

Jake Havechek:Funny how this is a problem NOW that the cold war is over.

Well....not really. The U.S. and former Soviet State's missile bases never really stood down, and only obsolete weapons have been replaced. There still are guys sitting in bunkers out in Kansas cornfields with their launch keys pulled outside of their blouses, while they read paperbacks and do endless tests and whatnot. Brian, the dorky guy who used to be on Ghosthunters was a missile tech in the USAF, and used to go and repair missile systems onsite as less as ten years ago.

I didnt say that we didnt still have the remains, nor the debt to pay off. But the active game of MAD has pretty much gone away. Ask someone who is 45+ and they will tell you about the fear of the cold war. Ask someone who is less than 25 and they will possibly remember what they learned in history class. but fear? nope

Climate Change is whooping the USAs ass. Last year with the 600+ tornado deaths. The wildfires, heatwaves, droughts, derechoes this year. And yet its still not nearly as bad as Summer 2003 in Europe where 70 000 people died from that summers heat.

make me some tea:Ah, here we go. It was lower in 2010 I guess. But still, hovering around critical levels.

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I've Mead and Powell bookmarked. As well as a few others. To listen to Pat Mulroy, Grady Gammage Jr and others, there is a lot of real concern out there. Some say 'get rid of farming' to fix it. I don't think that is a good idea. Better practices? Sure. Absolutely.

Nadie_AZ:I've Mead and Powell bookmarked. As well as a few others. To listen to Pat Mulroy, Grady Gammage Jr and others, there is a lot of real concern out there. Some say 'get rid of farming' to fix it. I don't think that is a good idea. Better practices? Sure. Absolutely.

Ultimately, we are overpopulating an area that can't support it.

And wouldn't you know it, Pat Mulroy has been the target of derision for Southern Nevada conservative talk radio for many years now.

I don't know how anyone can look at that lake and not get a bad feeling their gut.

This is absolutely the worst I've seen. Holy crap. There's even vegetation now growing where the water once was not too long ago.

Yeah I'm not crazy about that idea either. Las Vegas can still stand to conserve more water. Rip out the lush landscaping, bulldoze those freaking golf courses, and drain The Lakes. Those "lakes" were considered ridiculous and egregiously decadent even when they were being built back in the late '80s.

Doggerland - "We have speculated for years on the lost land's existence from bones dredged by fishermen all over the North Sea, but it's only since working with oil companies in the last few years that we have been able to re-create what this lost land looked like"

Pocket Ninja:Uh, subby? It rained all over the east coast this past weekend. Maybe you heard about it? Violent storm, some latino name. Dooraycho or something like that, who knows how you spell that nonsense.

Well this has been the wettest year in about 10 for us in the south and I don't see how they can claim extreme drought for us.

And nobody except stupid people deny climate change, what people argue is the man made part of it, but then any evidence that supports anything other than man causing it is ignored.